The US could have 100,000 to 200,000 deaths before the COVID-19 pandemic is through, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday. Although the projections could change, the infectious disease expert said, "We're going to have millions of cases," the Hill reports.

Fauci, a member of the president's coronavirus task force, made the comments on CNN's State of the Union. The US already has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any country in the world.

The original 15-day period for following social distancing guidelines would end Monday, but Fauci said he doubts they'll be lifted. It's more likely to be "a matter of weeks" before restrictions are eased, he said, per Politico.

President Trump's decision to drop the idea of quarantines for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut happened after "very intensive discussions" with advisers on Saturday night, Fauci said.

More than half the nation's new infections are in the New York City area, he said. "We made it clear and he agreed, it would be much better to do what's called a strong advisory," he said, per CNN.

Trump asked the CDC on Saturday night to issue the advisory, which asks people in those states to "refrain from non-essential domestic travel" for the next two weeks.

"You don't want to get to the point that you're enforcing things that would create a bigger difficulty, morale and otherwise, when you could probably accomplish the same goal," Fauci said Sunday.